Maya Simms - Donor Wall Design Competition Winner

Maya Simms - Donor Wall Design Competition Winner

Introducing art student Maya Simms, who won the competition held to determine the design of the donor wall at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly. Taking inspiration from the artist’s own heritage and the people who will use and share BAFTA’s new creative space, Maya’s design combines abstract figurative forms, stained glass and mirror to offer a moment of reflection and celebration. 

Maya’s design will be installed in 195 Piccadilly in spring 2022.

I wanted to create a piece of artwork that would reflect the diversity of the people coming into the BAFTA headquarters, framed and divided, as if an Art Deco style stained-glass window, into abstract representations of diverse faces. Thus, reflecting the visitors within the fabric of the BAFTA building, as well as framing them within the whole context of the act of encouraging diversity.

I wanted the donors’ names to be distributed around the artwork, surrounding and radiating from the central design. Their names, etched onto mirrored shards, encompass the design and reflect the viewer, as the donors are instrumental to the redevelopment of 195 Piccadilly and those within it through their donations.

For a young artist, an opportunity like this is undeniably momentous. The prospect of an enriching experience in the professional creative field, the exposure of my work to such a large audience and the artistic freedom presented in the competition, excited me greatly.

- Maya Simms, Student at the Slade School of Fine Art